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Serbia seeks Japan flights

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Serbia has become the latest country in the former Yugoslavia to initiate talks over the introduction of nonstop flights to Japan, following on from Slovenia and Croatia over the past month. The Serbian Minister for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Zorana Mihajlović, said after talks with the Japanese Ambassador to Serbia, that a new bilateral Air Service Agreement between the two countries will be inked in the near future in order to facilitate the introduction of new services. The future operator of Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, VINCI, holds a concession, as part of a consortium with Japanese partners, for two airports in Osaka, and this year added Kobe Airport to its portfolio. VINCI has said it plans to link Belgrade with a number of its other airports across the world.

Serbia and Japan do not require visas for each others' nationals. In 2017, there were 5.769 Japanese visitors to Serbia, which, although light, was still ahead of arrivals from much closer markets such as Portugal, Finland and Ireland. In 2016, All Nippon Airways (ANA) expressed initial interest in operating flights between Japan and Belgrade, however, no concrete agreement was reached and the services never materialised. The National Tourism Organisation of Serbia recently held talks in Tokyo with Japanese tour operators, the country’s tourism board, as well as the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Japan-Southeast Europe Business Association in a bid to boost travel between the two countries.

The Serbian Ministry for Construction, Transport and Infrastructure is aiming to attract more medium and long haul flights to the country in an effort to improve tourism and connectivity. It has identified several markets which hold potential to generate inbound or outbound travel from Serbia in the form of seasonal or charter flights, including Japan, Canada, India and South Korea, as well as further opportunities in the United States and China. Commenting on its upcoming plans, Ms Mihajlović said, "In the coming period we expect even more new flights from Belgrade Airport, which will link us with previously unserved markets and in turn boost tourism". Last year, Belgrade Airport identified counterparts in Zagreb and Budapest as its main competitors to securing long haul services. In a statement at the time, it said, "Our aim is to become a gateway for long haul flights in Southeastern Europe to North America, China and Asia, as well as to introduce new routes to the Euro-Mediterranean region and strengthen our regional connectivity, which would, in turn, help increase loads on flights to the abovementioned markets. The main competitors in achieving these goals are first and foremost Zagreb and Budapest".

Comments

BEG is well positioned to handle more long haul flights. In my opinion there is a market and the airport has the infrastructure. Just today there are 6 widebody passenger flights from Belgrade - New York with A330-200 (Air Serbia), three flights to Istanbul with A330-300 (Turkish), Beijing with A330-300 (Hainain) and Moscow with A330-300 (Aeroflot).

Why is the subject concerning the arrival of A321 so repetitive? All bigger airports in the region receive them on a daily basis. Why not mention the arrival of the A320 neo instead? SKP, which is much smaller, will permenantly have them this summer, not to mention SOF or SKG, which have been serving A321 since years now.

Few days ago TK sent 330 to ZAG. The same day Transat was there with 330 as well and Emirates with 777. And nobody makes it even mentioning while it's normal for an airport to have planes and flights included widebodied. But some people here, when bigger plane lands @BEG make it breaking news, as the space shuttle landed

The difference is you had TK send 1 A330 for the first time in years. Here you have six widebodies in one day so why is it a problem that somebody wrote a comment about it? Does it bother you that much? I think it is interesting to read that 6 flights were operating with a widebody to Belgrade today. Should it be banned for the person to write this under a topic related to long haul flights to Belgrade?

BTW a person posted a comment when that one TK A330 landed in Zagreb. Where were you then?

Really nice, since we're talking Thai Airways, Thai Government is negotiating open air agreement with Croatian Government on requests by Thai Airways, Thai Airways is thinking of adding Zagreb to its list of destinations in not too distant future. Other carriers, Singapore Airlines and India Air are also looking at adding Zagreb sometimes hopefully not too distant future.

Romania and Bulgaria are all neighboring countries, therefore it's quite easy and cheap to visit Serbia.

I'm saying that whenever there's a news that some far-east airline might start ZAG services, there's always someone saying that out of all these hundreds or thousands of visitors, 90% of them visit Croatia and Zagreb on their European tour, therefore - the direct flights would be unsustainable. If BEG gets these flights - great for BEG, but I can't comprehend when ZAG is mentioned in the same context - these flights are not logical.

You are taking what one or two people say and present it as if everyone says it. I don't think it's illogical for Zagreb to have flights from the far east. I find it surprising that it doesn't have flights from China and year round from Korea considering the number of visitors.

I never said that everyone is saying that, but there's always someone that pops up with such "facts".

And I don't find it as surprising since much bigger destinations than ZAG still don't have direct long haul flights to destinations from which tourists are flocking for years. These airlines are not Qatar or Emirates that have plentiful of aircraft to deploy to any destination where there's any demand to/from.

Even though I might not use any of them, I hope they will materialize in the near future.

Well, that's almost double the number of passengers. The fact airlines keep on launching BEG flights shows that there is growing demand and that airline find interest here. Just the other week Mahan announced a third weekly flight from IKA.

frishki@ ZAG doesn't have year round long haul flights.Emirates isn't that. But ZAG has year round operations with wide body plane. BEG has flights to DXB too, ZAG doesn't have flights to JFK and PEK. Ok you have YYZ but seasonal.

And yet, airline like Emirates started ZAG service. This is one of the ways how to tackle the seasonality and also, far east travelers don't travel only during the summer months, but year round.

Also, BEG and ZAG have the same seasonality difference. If you take BEG and its slowest and busiest months (Feb and Aug 2017), you get the difference of 77,7% and when you take ZAG (Feb and July 2017), the difference is 77,8%.

Croatia had 160 000 Chinese tourists in 2017, and no direct flight, if you add Taiwanese and HK yes it is 300 000 Chinese. However, it is misleading to say it is 300 000 Chinese, as most people would assume it is the mainland.

However, first 4 months of the year, number of Chinese visitors from the mainland alone, is up by 42%, based on first 4 months, we can expect between 220 and 250 000 Chinese visitors to Croatia this year, around 80-100 000 in Zagreb, Zagreb takes around 40% of all intercontinental visitors on average.

The network here doesn't make much difference since they are looking for a final destination, not a connecting hub. This route would be mostly for visitors that use either of the airports as their final destination, tour around and return from the same airport.

There aren't any since there are no direct flights. They need to fly or drive to Croatia from other point of entry. But that could change.

ZAG wouldn't be illogical choice especially because of it's OU network towards the coast. Even if they don't want to fly, there are multiple bus routes that connect Zagreb with the coast and neighboring countries.

One thing is certain, BEG has been able to attract a lot of extra airlines in recent months. I am sure a Japanese carrier could recreate Hainan's success in Belgrade.

Tourism from China is growing at such fast rate that Hainan alone can't carry all the passengers. That's one of the reasons why other carriers such as Etihad, Qatar, Turkish Airlines ...all expressed interest in adding more flights.

On top of that, Serbs travel A LOT and they go to a lot of exotic destinations. From what I see, Tanzania is all the rage this year.

With Qatar and Etihad upping their presence in Belgrade, FZ needs to respond otherwise ...

No, they didn't. Not once. You have to differentiate what politicians were saying what they "hope" would happen. But then again I remember here how everyone was writing the flights would never launch. So under old formula (like with Air Serbia's New York), the next phase is to repeat that flights are a failure.

No one said he was planning new routes. A president's visit togeather with a business delegation draws attention to a certain market. Or do you think accidentally the Serbia-Japan business forum was created 2 months after his visit. Maybe calm down a bit and think before you write.

I love how whenever there is a topic about some interest about long haul to Belgrade there are so many hurt egos. Yet when you look at the comments for the same news for Ljubljana and Zagreb there a high fives and "bravos". Love it.

It remains fact that whenever there is a topic about Belgrade long haul flights people such as yourself come here to belittle the airport. Like someone said above - you and your country are the best and most amazing. I hope that calms you down for the day and you can carry on.

Maybe there are tourists, but compagnies don't fly tout minor airports. BEG Has the most of the chances for these flight sincères it Is the best connected airport in the region with other reguonal airports... And that Is the win for all companies year around.You max like it or not, but Belgrade is the centre of the region. Bravo Beograd! :-)

There is nothing funny about Mexico City. It is an underserved [or to be more exact] unserved market from South and East Europe and Asia. A well organized airline could have a shot at it given its advantage over the ME3 where geography simply prohibits direct flights. Nothing to laugh here about.

I think this summer we are going to see passenger number growing around 10% per month. For example, the charter season will be much stronger. During summer Aviolet alone will operate on average three daily flights BEG and AYT!

All answers will be by VINCI Airpots, in regards future aviation busines in Belgrade. At least in next 25 years. Sydney is too far away. But maybe not to VINCI.Lot of destinations will developing. Belgrade is on right place...Let to be see in few years.Rodney, Sydney.